CIO Survey Reveals Poor Relationships Limit UK Outsourcing Success

Post-outsourcing, less than one in ten (7%) CIOs in the private sector had seen significant changes to their in-house skill set, whereas in the public sector the number experiencing a change was four times higher (28%). This may indicate that the public sector is developing relationship management abilities in its in-house teams, as well as giving them the opportunity to learn new skills in support of their core businesses.

MORI CIO, Ben Booth sees relationship management skills as critical: “In my experience working with a number of partners requires a very different approach. CIOs are looking for their teams to manage the overlaps and interfaces of multi-vendor relationships effectively. It is only those organisations that do get it right who will get the most out of outsourcing.”

Despite these challenges, the benefits of a well-managed outsourcing contract are clearly compelling. The survey found that in the next two years, 88% of CIOs will maintain or increase spending on outsourcing. CIOs stated that the most important reasons for choosing to outsource are to reduce operational costs (69%), focus on core business (59%) and gain access to specialist IT skills (54%).

Simon Walsh, managing director of services, Computacenter said: “CIOs tell us that outsourcing is helping them reduce costs, but they know it can also achieve more strategic objectives. CIOs can tap into a scalable pool of specialist resource to free up the time of their in-house staff. But to get the best out of their outsourcing partners they need to train retained employees in business planning and relationship management skills.”